Better housing could save millions

Greater investment in better-quality housing could save millions on health, law and order and education, a report said.

The study claimed that in addition to harming residents, poor housing also has added cost for the police, schools and other public service providers.

It found that on two poor estates in Stepney, east London, the cost of dealing with crime was pounds 325 per household per year, while the annual average cost of ill-health was more than pounds 500.

The report, for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) by Sussex University, said there were 375,000 unfit homes in the public sector in England. If the same costs were applied to every one of these properties, that would total more than pounds 300m.

The researchers also talked to residents of an improved estate in Paddington, west London. They found the incidence of illness was seven times higher in the Stepney estates, and 60 per cent of the cases were reported to be "very closely related" to people's housing.